"No-no's" in hybridizing?

Hello All :)

Hopefully I'll get my Iris book tomorrow. In the meantime, I just read online there are some "no-no's" (according to a famous hybridizer) in hybridizing...Hmmmmm...
Here are a couple of quotes I found...

1) "Crossing plicatas with selfs"

2) "Crossing Thornbird with a white will get you nowhere, and I marvel that people are introducing irises from such a cross even in 2006."

I actually have chosen a few pairings of both I want to hybridize...go figure!

Thank you,
Susan

Hey SL Do it your way--even famous hybridizers have their quirks. If you have a reason for crosses, not just color, do it, but figure what you are looking for & keep it in mind for the cross of the following generation.

I was just looking at a slew of photos at Mid America and it was noted that one greenish yellow TB was the result of crossing two blue parents. I'm clueless about hybridizing but I thought that was kind of neat.

Color in TBs is really a mixed bag--you should know about color genetics & the knowledge is changing all the time about what is dominant & what is recessive. The yellow color trait in the blues could be hiding for generations & become visible with the right cross for it.

I was once tracing the parents of an SDB plicata with a pink background. I found the carotine (for yellow or pink) several generations back, & then looked for the plicata, found it on one side & by that time was into the original crosses for SDB (TB X I. pumila). At 10 generations back on the other side became tired & went to bed. Next morning DH showed me the answer--it was 14 generations back with the TB . You never know which traits are hiding in the background.

That's really some work! It's amazing that so much work goes into so many of the flowers we love. Always grateful that there are people out there taking on the science of it all:)

If you are interested in hybridizing you must get "the bible" of all iris books, The World of Irises by Bee Warburton. It has tons of info on iris genetics, hybridizing, culture and much more. Amazon usually carries it. Its a great book that you will read and re read.

That book is also available from AIS. Keep in mind that more is known about iris genetics since it was put out--but the basics are there. Anyway even with basic knowlege of a very complicated set of paths every hybridizer has their own set of ideas. In siberians, the color dynamics discovered by Marty Schafer have come into being since the book was published. but as often as you read it , something new pierces your knowledge. I find it good winter reading. The 'Gardener's Iris Book' is a good starting point for growing knowlege on the different types of irises.

Hello All :)

Thanks for all of your info...about books, your experiences and knowledge! I've been reading the Gardener's Iris Book and it's wonderful. I'm absorbing as much as I can like a sponge. Sorry for my lengthy absence, but I've been very busy setting up our basement sowing seeds, figuring out our finances, waiting for the tax $$$ to return to see what I can spend...haha!
Really though, just very busy and haven't been on DG at all for nearly 2 weeks...
Need to catch up with all your threads :)